Overview

ECDI is a child’s rights-based non-profit organization dedicated to promoting optimal early childhood care and education for West African children. We are early childhood development (ECD) technical partners with UNICEF in Nigeria where research has identified the low capacity of pre-primary teachers as a factor hindering early learning. ECDI collaborates with government, communities and international agencies to support a strong ECD knowledge base, develop a core of ECD trainers and provide resources to support child development from ages 0-5, the critical period that lays the foundation for children's lifelong outcomes. ECDI establishes and delivers culturally appropriate teacher training programs, advocacy, public enlightenment, resource supply, research, early literacy initiatives and special needs supports. ECDI has, in collaboration with UNICEF, developed a Reggio Emilia based training manual for pre-primary teachers which is now the national standard in Nigeria. Since 2015, close to 10,000 pre-primary teachers have been trained and approximately 190,000 children indirectly benefitted. ECDI has a formal MOU with Ryerson University and is jointly engaged in cross-cultural research on early learning in West Africa; necessary research to enhance development of culturally relevant curriculum and contribute knowledge from the global south to international discourses of early childhood education. Our Partner-2-Play social enterprise is developed to support provision of resources to public pre-primary schools with Reggio trained teachers, as they change from rote to play-based learning. Every purchase at the store enables ECDI supply valuable play resources to pre-primary classrooms. We continue to advance early learning strategies that promote the best outcomes for West African children.